Daily Devotions – Working Creation in Need of Rest

Daily Devotions – Working Creation in Need of Rest

Photo by Nathan Dumlao on Unsplash

 

Click this link to hear an audio version of the below text narrated by SOTH member Jerry Rhinehart:

 

Exodus 23:10-12  (NIV)
Sabbath Laws
10 “For six years you are to sow your fields and harvest the crops, 11 but during the seventh year let the land lie unplowed and unused. Then the poor among your people may get food from it, and the wild animals may eat what is left. Do the same with your vineyard and your olive grove. 12 “Six days do your work, but on the seventh day do not work, so that your ox and your donkey may rest, and so that the slave born in your household and the foreigner living among you may be refreshed.

 

Choose one or two key verses from the Scripture reading in Exodus today and do at least one of the following for your chosen verse(s).
A –  Ask questions of the text (Who, what, why, where, when)
– Emphasize certain words as you read the text over & over
I  –  In your own words (paraphrase one or more verses)
O  – Other verses in the Bible that say the same or opposite
U  – Use it; apply the truth from the text in your life

 

Lord as you commanded the people to let the lands rest every seventh year, it required them to trust that You would provide them with food and providence. As I struggle to rest even the seventh day of the week, is it a lack of trust that I must control my time and my schedule? Please teach me dependence on your faithfulness as I submit to Your weekly appointment of rest and decrease my reliance on my self-directed schedule. Help me prioritize the pleasure of quiet time with You. Help me discern what needs to get done so it will happen, and that which doesn’t so it can be put aside. Amen